Head Girl.
How had she not expected it to be difficult? Rose sunk down onto one of the plush chairs in the Gryffindor common room, her body feeling heavy with exhaustion. She rubbed her eyes, going over the committee meetings she had yet to organize and the updated prefect patrols now that Elliott was in the infirmary. Just one more complication of many in the past two weeks since school had started. She'd barely had time to breathe.
Taking a slow inhale, she felt some tension leave her shoulders. She peered over at one of the common room windows to see the moon making her paces. It was still early, but the common room was almost empty. Only a few first years playing chess in the corner and a few girls giggling over Witch's Weekly on the couch. Probably another article on how to properly snare a dashing young wizard. She wondered who they had in mind.
She wondered f Scorpius was on their list.
Pursing her lips, Rose pushed herself up and moved to the girl's dormitories. She hadn't had many chances to check the internet for any non-wizarding news of her grandfather. Tonight, however, she would. She'd finished all her coursework yesterday, knowing she would have too many meetings today to work on much of anything else. Pushing open the door to her room, she heard the slow breathing of her roommates and sent quiet thanks for small favors. Rose grabbed the black case from her trunk and retreated back through the door, into the common room, and through the portrait. One of the perks of being Head Girl was that no one questioned a late night patrol.
She moved down the darkened corridors, accompanied by quiet snores from the portraits. The stairs had a bit of fun with her before setting her on the right landing, but the game helped loosen more of the tension that had taken to residing in her body. It was nice to think of something other than her duties, her homework, or her grandfather. Or Scorpius.
She'd seen the Malfoy boy in the halls and they shared some classes, but besides the occasional nod of greeting, thy hadn't interacted. Something in her raged at the loss of familiarity, but she understood. Neither of them were willing to deal with the ramifications of a public friendship yet.
'You aren't, you mean,' a little rebellious voice whispered in her head and she hurried on.
'Any self-respecting Head Girl needs to show up free of a Malfoy on the return trip of their final year. We wouldn't want to start rumors, would we?' All she could picture was the forced grin on his lips as he said it.
Yes. She wasn't prepared for the ramifications. He was just respecting her space, her obligations, and her own insecurities. Rose shook her head and clenched her jaw.
As she reached the north tower, she slid down onto the floor beneath the far window. Rose sat in the dark for a moment, head resting back against the cool stone and her eyes closed. She basked in the complete silence. No voices and no distractions. If she wasn't careful, she'd fall asleep.
With a small smile, she opened her case and the alcove was flooded with mechanical light. She wasn't sure how the castle felt about technology, but so far there had been no magical repercussions. She had found this spot in her second year to send messages to her non-magical cousins. Granted, they just thought she was in boarding school without the slightest clue as to the struggles she went through to keep up communication. There had been more than a few close calls with the night watch in those days. As she focused on the screen, she took a few minutes to respond to some notifications that popped up before moving on to more pressing business.
She pored over multiple news websites, working through ones she hadn't covered last time. She started locally, around the area where her grandfather had last been seen. Then, she branched out to national and then on to some international sources. After hours of nothing revealing itself, she admitted defeat. Thus far, the non-wizarding world was as ignorant to Arthur Weasley's whereabouts as she was. Her eyes were burning from lack of sleep and her shoulders ached from slouching over the laptop. Checking her notifications again, she closed the laptop and stood up, stretching skyward for a long moment to try and remove some of the aches.
As she made her way back down through the moving stairs, her mind turned to the radio silence from her mother. Rose had the distinct impression that it was her mother's way of keeping her out of trouble. So much for being informed on everything in the wizarding world. The Prophet hadn't had anything for the past two weeks beyond the repeated article that took up a small corner of the page in the paper. At this point, she knew more about the non-wizarding world than the one she was currently residing in. She had to get more information from somewhere.
As her slow footsteps approached the sleeping form of the Gryffindor portrait, she made her decision. She was going to have to speak with Albus about borrowing a few things.
She had to chat with Scorpius.
"What are you doing?"
Scorpius looked away from the Prophet to level a confused look down at Daphne. She was laying on her back on the couch, her head propped up on his thigh, dark eyes watching him from under the paper. Her black hair was pulled over her shoulder and she had been spending the past quiet minutes absently braiding it. She apparently had reached the end of her patience. At his look, she huffed and pushed herself up into a sitting position, twisting around to glower at him.
"Don't act confused. You've been ignoring me all day. Actually, since school started. Not okay, Scorpius." She raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms, looking very imperious and displeased. He glanced around the common room, but no one was paying attention to them. Folding the paper, he turned, lifting a leg onto the couch, and leaned toward her.
"How exactly have I been ignoring you? We've been hanging out every day," he replied, a small smirk on his face.
She glared, "Oh, you know how, you prat."
His grin widened, "Do I?"
They stared each other down for a few minutes before Daphne shook her head with a small laugh, "I never can win."
He shrugged before leaning back against the arm of the couch, "Sorry." Quiet fell for a few minutes and he watched his friend play with her hair again. He sighed, "I've been a bit preoccupied. Haven't felt the urge for any snogging as of late."
She glanced at him, "Well I have."
"You could try and get a boyfriend, Daph," he retorted.
"Too much work," she snipped dismissively, "I already have you trained and then in a year we're out of school. Why start something new now?" Scorpius rolled his eyes before pulling the paper back up to skim it over for the umpteenth time. "Why, do you have someone else in mind to snog with?"
He looked at her sharply, "No."
She was quiet for a moment too long after his abrupt answer, but she forged ahead, "Scorpius. We've talked about this. If there is someone, you've gotta let me know. It's the deal."
He rustled the paper and shoved his nose back into it, "There's no one." His eyes drifted down to watch the laughing face of Arthur Weasley for a moment. "Besides...it's like you said. What's the point of trying?"
Daphne considered him for a moment, all too aware of the fact that that hadn't been at all what she said.
Albus stared her down from across the table, his green eyes narrowed in suspicion. She refused to back down, however. Resisting the urge to fidget, Rose gave back as good as she got. After a while, all she could think about was how her cousinreally needed a haircut. It hanging in his eyes like that was ruining his glare game. She reached out and tugged one of the stray locks that were flopped onto his forehead. He gave an indignant noise and batted her hand away.
She grinned, "Remind me to cut your hair tonight. Come up to the common room and I'll take care of it."
He shook his head, "Nah, yours is too noisy. Come to ours. That way I'll be able to work on my potions essay."
With a frown, Rose shook her head, "I don't like the dungeons."
He lifted his eyebrows, "It's either that or I let my hair grow forever until it's braid-able." She scowled, but she knew he'd won this round. As much as she disliked going to the Slytherin common room, she couldn't stand it when his hair grew too long. James had at least taken care with his appearance. Albus just let it go until someone reminded him he had to try and look presentable if he wanted to work in the Ministry. At least until he had a job. Then, apparently, all standards went downhill.
"But back to the original topic," her cousin leaned forward on the library table, "Why do you want the cloak and the map?"
"I have a project I'm working on."
His eyebrows shot up, "What? Stalking people?"
A snort escaped her and he waited patiently while Rose laughed. Finally, she shook her head, "No, no! Nothing like that!" She laughed again before taking a deep breath, "No. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Albus."
He grinned, "What is family for but to expect the worst of you?"
Rolling her eyes, Rose shook her head again, "Obviously. But, I just need them to follow up with a...a source."
The look her cousin gave her was deadpan, "Are you trying to use them to meet up with some bloke for some midnight snogging?"
Rose's eyes flew open and she felt her cheeks flush red as she screeched, "WHAT?!" Her mind skittered to images of pale eyes and smooth planes of skin before she scrunched her eyes shut to get rid of them.
Albus lifted his hands, "Sorry! Sorry. Okay, you're not." As he saw she wasn't going to continue the screeching, he went on, "I just wanted to make sure. It would be a stupid reason to use them, but people have used them for stupid reasons in the past."
She glared, "I'm not James. I don't plan on going peeping."
Her cousin shot her a lopsided grin, "Sorry, Rose. Just had to be sure." He stood up and cracked his back, giving her time to collect herself once more. Looking down at her, he smiled, "I'll go grab them, just wait here."
Rose watched as Albus strolled out of the library. Stupid reasons. She couldn't help but wonder if this really was a stupid reason. Too scared to just talk to a boy in broad daylight. Not that Scorpius was just any boy, she supposed. She frowned as she tried to concentrate on her textbook once more. When Albus came back with a small satchel, she thanked him, but left soon after without meeting his eyes. She knew that Albus would think it was a stupid reason.
A few hours later, she was back, hunkered in an empty classroom just down the hall from the library, staring at the stationary pair of footprints that were marked Scorpius Malfoy. The rush of idiocy was back in full bloom. She shouldn't be here. She felt like a creep and the invisibility cloak was stuffy. Mixed with her own conflicting doubts, she was in a right state of discomfort. Maybe it would be easier to not speak with him. Maybe she should just go.
Probably for the best. She didn't need his help and he hadn't offered any since they'd returned. He was probably just hoping she didn't do anything stupid on her own so that he didn't get in trouble with her mum. Clenching her jaw, she stood up and made her way to the door, deciding to abandon the endeavor altogether.
She glanced down at the map again before opening the door, only to see that Scorpius was now heading down the hall toward the doorway she was standing behind. Her stomach knotted and fluttered and again she was undecided.
She could just let him walk by. It would be easy.
His footprints drifted closer, slow. She could just picture him still nose deep in a book as he made his way back to the common room.
Too easy.
If he'd been paying attention, Scorpius would have seen the disembodied hand that shot out to grab him. As it was, he was bodily jerked sideways through an open door with nothing more than a muffled noise of surprise. His momentum threw him into a body and then they tumbled onto the hard ground. He hissed as his back met stone, but when he opened his eyes, it was to see a floating head of red curls, rising up to rush toward the open door. A hand appeared a moment later, flashing out to close the door.
Then she turned and he blinked up at the wide blue eyes and the pink flush that ran under the freckles that dotted her nose and cheeks. And then he couldn't help the small grin that lifted his lips, nor the bubble of laughter that erupted up and out. Soon, he was just curled up on the floor laughing. He heard Rose's small tentative laughter join in a moment later and he rolled flat on his back again to smirk up at her.
"Y'know, there are easier ways to get a bloke's attention, Ms. Weasley," he drawled, his eyebrows lifting.
The flush that had been retreating, came back full force, but she shook her head, "Where's the fun in that?"
Sitting up, he reached over to pull his textbook back toward him from where it had fallen after the tumble, "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your ambush?" He smiled up at her at that, ignoring the reasons that she had chosen this particular way of contacting him. He'd acknowledged her reasons when they parted at King's Cross, after all.
She lowered herself to the floor of the classroom with him, pulling off the cloak to let the silvery fabric pool on the floor beside her. His eyes watched it for a moment before shifting to her wringing hands. He resisted the urge to reach out and still them. Instead, he ran his fingers along the spine of his book, to check for damage while she gathered her mind.
After a minute or so, she blurted, "Has your father said anything?"
Lifting his eyes, Scorpius took in her anxious expression, "About your grandfather?" He shook his head, but at the crumpled look on her face, he went on, "Not anything in the vein of finding him yet. But he said that they have a small team of aurors on the case." He dropped his eyes back to the book in his hands, "Now that the war is over and most of the Death Eaters have been accounted for, they have a few aurors to spare." With a small grin up at her, he tilted his head, "Not to mention they had an influx of auror applicants after the War thanks to your uncle."
She nodded absently and after a few moments she shot him a small smile, "It's good to know that at least something is being done, I guess." Running one of her hands through her hair, her eyebrows drew down, "Mum hasn't told me anything. I was getting frustrated. Hoped you might be able to shed a little light."
Scorpius sighed, "Yeah, sorry I don't have anything more. I doubt your mum does either, though." She shot him a skeptical look that had him chuckling, "Well, if my father tells me anything important, I will most certainly get ahold of you." He paused with a small smirk, "Probably in a less aggressive way, however."
Another flush crossed her cheeks, "Yeah. Sorry about that. I'll...I'll work on it for next time."
He liked that there would be a next time. Pushing himself up, he brushed off his pants before hefting the textbook in the crook of his arm and offering a hand down to her. She looked at it for a moment. Then, she grabbed the cloak and a folded piece of paper before reaching up to let him pull her up. He dropped her hand as soon as she had her feet under her. Then, he watched as she swirled the cloak over her shoulders and everything beneath her neck disappeared.
She grinned at him, "Have a good rest of your evening, Scorpius. I'm sure I'll see you soon." He lifted his hand as she turned to the door, flipped the cloak over her head, and disappeared. The door opened and closed behind her and Scorpius was alone once more.